Reversing around a corner

TwoShedsJackson

Well having applied for my test about five months ago I may actually get called some time soon :rolleyes: so can anyone give any tips on technique for reversing around a corner?

I have tried it a few times on a quiet road near my house and generally end up a foot or two further out from the kerb than I was when I started reversing.

Any tips would be appreciated.

feylya

The way I've been told to do it is to angle the left hand mirror down towards the kerb and keep the edge of the kerb in the same part of the mirror as you turn around the corner.

bonkey

Reverse slower.

besty

Use the clutch to control your speed while doing it. Also maximise the use of your mirrors. That said, I've failed my test twice, but no faults on the reverse around the corner.

Downtime

Park your car a foot from a kerb. Look in the rearview mirror and spot the point in the back window where you can see the kerb. Stick a small piece of dark tape or a little piece of paper at this spot. Make sure that it is not too noticable.

Now when you reverse around the corner line yourself with the kerb and the piece of paper and ensure the car is facing straight and you should be around a foot from the kerb. Worked a treat for me.

WindSock

I remember my on my first test many moons ago, I did a woeful job on this bit, tyres scraped against the kerb and I ended up arseways. Amazingly I didnt fail on this though, just a multitude of other petty things:(

Tony H

http://www.2pass.co.uk/reverse.htm

have a look here
and remember you are allowed to take your seat belt off when reversing around a corner if it makes it more comfortable ,
just remember to put it back on

and observation is really important look out for the blind spots during the turn

Irish Salfordia

Downtime wrote:

Park your car a foot from a kerb. Look in the rearview mirror and spot the point in the back window where you can see the kerb. Stick a small piece of dark tape or a little piece of paper at this spot. Make sure that it is not too noticable.

Now when you reverse around the corner line yourself with the kerb and the piece of paper and ensure the car is facing straight and you should be around a foot from the kerb. Worked a treat for me.

This spot is usually almost dead centre of the rear window. Works for most folk, but only good for the straight part of the reverse

breadmonkey

EDIT: Just noticed that this has already been posted but I think the detail might be helpful.

This is how I learned. It might be hard to describe but I'll try.

Look at your back window in the middle at the bottom. Either find some point that you can remeber or put a little mark there (some tip-ex will do the job).

Now just keep looking at that point as you're reversing around the corner (doing all other mirror checks as necessary, I won't go into that) and don't start to staighten the wheel until the line of the kerb is over the little mark. At this point start to straighten the wheel but KEEP THE MARK OVER THE LINE OF THE CURB AS YOU MOVE.

Mitch Connor

i angled my left mirror down slightly, so i could see the back wheel of th car - this allowed me to see exactly where the car was in relation to the curb, and made it a lot easier to reverse. I scrwed up my first few attempts (in pretests) but once i sorted the mirror out, I didn't really have any problems at all - and aced it in the test.

Another thing to remember, is to complete the move, regardless of how you think you have done. If you think you have gone to wide to start, keep at it and don't show any frustration - just keep an eye on you left mirror while doing your observations and bring the car back to the curb. Make it seem like you mean to do exactly what you have done. There were a few times on my pretests that i thought i had screwed it up, but after completing the reverse I was told it had been grand. As long as you don't hit the curb, and keep an eye out for traffic coming from all directions you should be fine.

I was bricking myself over this part of the test in the weeks coming up to it, but it wasn't nearly as bad as i thought it would be.

pog it

Is it okay to adjust your left mirror for this reverse around the kerb, or should I have mirror adjusted before the test starts to suit that part?
have my test on thursday! 3 months driving, maybe I applied too soon...:)

Mitch Connor

pog it wrote:

Is it okay to adjust your left mirror for this reverse around the kerb, or should I have mirror adjusted before the test starts to suit that part?
have my test on thursday! 3 months driving, maybe I applied too soon...:)

If you have electric mirrors it is perfectly acceptable to adjust them prior to starting the revers. If you do not have electric mirrors, i don't think you could change it at this stage, because you'd have to unbelt - while the engine is on - not sure how the instuctor would view that. However, if you fail to move your mirror back before you move off again(after completing the reverse) you will be marked down for it. If you think it is likely you will forget (and i know i would have!) you should adjust your mirror before getting to the test centre.

If you have done a few pretests, you should be fine by the way. I think a long time driving could actually hinder you, as you (as in everyone) can pick up bad habbits which are hard to shake.

Good luck.

Mrs. MacGyver

breadmonkey wrote:

EDIT: Just noticed that this has already been posted but I think the detail might be helpful.

This is how I learned. It might be hard to describe but I'll try.

Look at your back window in the middle at the bottom. Either find some point that you can remeber or put a little mark there (some tip-ex will do the job).

Now just keep looking at that point as you're reversing around the corner (doing all other mirror checks as necessary, I won't go into that) and don't start to staighten the wheel until the line of the kerb is over the little mark. At this point start to straighten the wheel but KEEP THE MARK OVER THE LINE OF THE CURB AS YOU MOVE.

The lads in work told me this before i went for mine and it worked also keep going back straight until the curve comes into the view of the left hand mirror - then turn. People often make the mistake of turning to soon and cutting the corner too tightly as a result.

Faith

On this note, when would you receive a grade 3 for a bad reversing around a corner? I got one in my test, and I cannot for the life of me imagine why. I was quite wide, but she told me to stop really early so I didn't have time to get back in. I didn't hit the curb or drive up on it, there were no other cars around, I didn't get in the way of anything...

Vikings

Well you are meant to stay the same distance away from the kerb all the way around, so if you took it too wide you would have had to move it back into position which is where i'd guess that mark came from.

I didn't worry about this part of my test, or you could say i didnt really prepare for it but anyway, i only practiced this once and that was on the morning of the test itself, dont worry about it too much just take it slowly make sure you do it right.

The corner I was asked to reverse around was more of a bend than a corner and was completely different to the corner I had practiced on so that went right out the window, didnt get any marks lost for it though so cant have been that bad.

gobby

Angling the left hand mirror is a good idea. The only thing that you have to remember is that if you change your mirror during your test then make sure you change back again when you have finished reversing around the corner, otherwise they can fail you for not changing the mirror back to a safe state.

When I did the test the car that I was using had a gammy mirror that always looked down toward the rear wheel. It ment that I could see the right things when reversing around the corner. I never changed the mirror before or after reversing around the corner.

Vegeta

Ok I assume you can reverse so the following is how I completed mine

I angled the mirror down slightly for the about a week before the test (this way I could see the kerb and anything down the left of my car: cyclist etc etc)

So from a parked position check all your mirrors, your blind spot, out the back window. Indicate left that you are going around the corner

Move off slowly ( a slow speed is really key to this) and check forward, blind spot and mirrors every few seconds. I used to count to 4 and check them.

Now you will have come to the corner. It may be a 90 degree corner or a gradual bend. Either way begin your turn, if it is a 90 degree type turn there is no way to keep the wheels the same distance from the kerb so go a little wide and straighten it up afterwards. Once halfway around the corner come to a stop, give a good look around and then continue on.

Using the slightly downturned mirror re-align with the kerb. You don't have to be very close to the kerb, just keep it a reasonable distance. All the time remember your forward, blind spot and mirror checks.

The tester will ask you to reverse back a decent distance so do not be put off by this and it gives you a chance to get the car straight.

During my test a jeep came from behind and i had no choice but to pull back around the corner (mirrors, indicate into traffic, blind spot check, stop at cross indicate left and pull back in to original position) so I ended up doing it roughly twice in the test. Oh the test sweats are rough.

Vikings

Vegeta wrote:

Indicate left that you are going around the corner

Woah... who told you to do that?

Everything that I read never mentioned this, when I watched the how to pass your driving test DVD from the Irish School of Motoring it specifically said not to indicate when reversing around the corner.

I did not indicate during my test and passed it with no marks against that.

Vegeta

IncredibleBulk wrote:

Woah... who told you to do that?

Everything that I read never mentioned this, when I watched the how to pass your driving test DVD from the Irish School of Motoring it specifically said not to indicate when reversing around the corner.

I did not indicate during my test and passed it with no marks against that.

hmmm it has been a month since my test so maybe I forgot it but I am pretty sure I did this and also passed.

I'll check the rules of the road and get back to this

fasty

You would have indicated left when pulling in to do the reverse around a corner but should cancel the indicator before starting.

gobby

fasty wrote:

You would have indicated left when pulling in to do the reverse around a corner but should cancel the indicator before starting.

I think thats the way I did it too. Indicate in when pulling up but not when reversing around the corner.

Only did my test in Jan this year and I can't remember!

TwoShedsJackson

My understanding is that you indicate to pull in left but cancel the indicator before starting the reverse - your reverse lights come on when you get in gear so unless they think you are a bit of a madman they should know you're not intending to reverse straight across a T junction

Thanks for the tips in this thread guys.

Stark

Yeah your reverse lights are sufficient indication.

Also be careful when you're moving off. They usually ask you to continue left, and people tend to get caught out as your natural instinct is to indicate left straight away, and forget to indicate right to show that you're pulling out

Vegeta

sickened I forgot this.

Have to say though I had never reversed around a corner before my test

Seinas

well i applied 4 weeks ago, and my test is next wednesday :eek:

ive had a 3 driving lessons in the last week, and im going to do 3 more...... and the only problem i have is the reversing :mad: although he did say yesterday there was an improvement

angle the left mirror down to the kerb, and then reverse.. and all the time look to the mirror and over your left shoulder.... and when you are straightened up, you pause and look over your right shoulder before continuing...

Mr. Presentable

Take a friend to a quiet estate. Get her to stand on the corner and guide you. Practise, practise, practise. Also good idea to turn down the mirror a little. But practise is the key.

Stark

Yeah I was ****e at it until I got my dad to take me out (I'd feel like a total dickhead doing it on my own) and get me to do it a good few times until I had it.

gobby

Stark wrote:

Yeah I was ****e at it until I got my dad to take me out (I'd feel like a total dickhead doing it on my own) and get me to do it a good few times until I had it.

I had a great pre test insructor and he made me do the reversing around the corner, along with the about turn etc, a good few times. Practiced myself also. Its like they say, practice makes perfect!

Another thing I would like to say is that a must for doing a driving test is to make sure that you bring spare bulbs!

On the day of my driving test I had an indicator bulb blow on me. The tester wasn't going to take me out. I would have automatically failed the test! :eek:

Good thing I had some spares. Changed the bulb, went out, passed the test.

It was my pre tester who suggested it. Ronnie, your a genius!!

Capt'n Midnight

try reversing around a few types of corner - sharp ones and gradual ones. If you only done one type you can end up supprisingly wide as you go around.

Not sure about not indicating around corners. I am sure it's perfectly legal to reverse across a T junction. I'd always use indicators to a side road. No confusion and it gives a further clue to other motorists that they'd have to pull out to overtake.

Wishbone Ash

Indicators should never be used when reversing as it causes confusion. A reversing driver has no right of way and therefore must stop and give way to all other drivers.

LegacyUser

If you are reversing around the corner and another car comes up behind you, what are you supposed to do?
I have been told 3 different things. A tester told me I should have gone back to the original starting position, an instructor told me to stay where I am and put the hazard lights on, and another instructor told me to just stop and do nothing, waiting for the other driver to go around me. What have those of you who have passed done?